Khorne in the Kitchen: Master of the Cuisinatorium

I have been slumbering in the arms of Nurse Nurgle for the recent past, but now bring forth a new Hungry Ghosts character. Right now he plays no gaming role, just important in the fluff, which is just what you need be doing instead of finishing your tanks.

Master of the Cuisinatorium Ghoti "Gravy" Chunckx

Here is the insane ratling master chef whose drugged cuisine of mysterious meats played a critical role in turning the sturdy and noble Legios Moriad XIV into the mutant undead Hungry Ghosts of Khorne. He started out as part of my fetish with turning unlikely souls into Chaos mutants and as a joke about Dwarf cooking ability, but the latest IG codex provided the opportunity to turn my joke character into a mockery of the Command Squad Regimental Advisors. Thus was sparked desire for creating the Master of the Cuisinatorium, Ghoti "Gravy" Chunckx.

Ghoti is based on the RT601 Adventurers series Halfling Cook*. I got him a while ago, but since he is a bit puny in his native form, with a piddly little laser gun. So I needed to wait until the right conversion bits came along and he sat on the shelf waiting for duty. The first person who can tell me how Ghoti's first name is pronounced will win the severed Ratling legs.

But look, he flies like the wind on hooves of brass, like no proper Halfling should even think about. Gravy's silly little laser has been exchanged for an old Chaos Renegade Bolt Pistol. And he carries a variety of small pouches and canisters for spices and poisons, from the WFB Dwarf and 40K Cadians.

Master Chef has been turned into a Chaos Centaur. His tiny slow pudgy feets have been replaced by the bold red and brass power of Khorne. The body comes from the C38 Beastman named Crawler or Horse-Man**. His head was popped of and replaced by the Chef's torso. The body by itself doesn't really look like he is running, so I had to add some bits to make a sense of motion- the plastic Horse Tail flying in the wind, the severed head swinging back, and Chef Chunckx pointing his large (for a Ratling) gun forward.

Now our Chef has a swift gallop going, but all the flowing hair patterns and hooves sticking out makes me want to put more curved/flowing bits that stick out. When you see a good gestalt for a conversion forming, it's best to dive right into it and see where it takes you.

In Chef Chunckx's case, he also needed some bulking up to look like a credible servant of Khorne. The original Beastman body was sculpted with strong muscular detail, so that was fine. It allowed me to focus on providing him with the customary spiky armor. So I went with the best source for organic-looking armor plating bits, the Tyranid Biomorph sprue. Four of the horn-like curved armor bits, one at the top of each leg, and one of the shovel-blade shaped bits on the back. These also hid the place where the Ratling meets Beastman along with the pouches.

And because every chef loves a hidden surprise, Ghoti Chunckx has the snarling face of a Tyranid Hunter Slayer with a goat-like beard where the standard rear exit would be. The swinging beard and turned face help add to the impression of movement, especially since the face is not looking at what the head is looking at.

This is what happens to Tyranids who misbehave.

Since I was trying to create a kind of panoramic flow and circular symmetry with this conversion, here is a view from the top. I tried out another piece of armor in the front, so he would have 8 parts pointing outward for each of the points of the Chaos Star, but it didn't look as good as 7.

This guy was fun to create. I've been carrying that Tyranid face with me for over 20 years waiting for the right punishment for his Crimes Against Squats. Finally the Stars Were Right and the Sleeper Has Awakened, Quiznos Haagen-dasz etc.

Enough hyperbole. You all are by now thinking "where's the rest of that Hunter-Slayer?"

This guy!
From the loopy daemon generation rules of Realm of Chaos filter through my 14 year old brain. And, yes, White Dwarf really did advise the use of paperclips and index cards for your banners back then.

* http://www.solegends.com/citrt/rt601adventurers.htm
** http://collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Image:C38beastman26.jpg